


Panic! At the Disco Part 2

by Kira_Dattei



Series: The Old Guard Whumptober 2020 [19]
Category: The Old Guard (Movie 2020)
Genre: Anxiety, Immortal Found Family, Immortal Husbands Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova, M/M, Panic Attacks, Protective Andy | Andromache of Scythia, Protective Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-12-12
Updated: 2020-12-12
Packaged: 2021-03-10 17:40:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,277
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28031034
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kira_Dattei/pseuds/Kira_Dattei
Summary: The explosion separated them and Nicky needs to know that Joe is alright. He won’t be able to dismiss the thought that "this is the time" until he has proof Joe is alive and well.Prompt: a commenter on Panic! At the Disco wanted to see a sequel with Nicky and Booker rescuing Joe and Andy and my brain was able to accommodate. Quite easily, in fact.
Relationships: Andy | Andromache & Booker | Sebastien le Livre & Joe | Yusuf al-Kaysani & Nicky | Nicolò di Genova, Joe | Yusuf Al-Kaysani/Nicky | Nicolò di Genova
Series: The Old Guard Whumptober 2020 [19]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1994617
Comments: 5
Kudos: 52





	Panic! At the Disco Part 2

**Author's Note:**

> The commenter that posed the idea of writing a sequel to Panic! At the Disco wasn't a member so I can't gift this to them like I really want to because I genuinely and deeply appreciate that a reader wanted more of what I was writing. So, I'll just give my deepest thanks to that guest commenter who commented as "aie" for reading, liking the fic, and commenting that they wanted a sequel. I was simply happy to keep on writing for this fandom and I really enjoyed writing more for one of the prompts that I really like writing, which was the Panic Attack prompt.  
> I hope you enjoy.

Booker was letting out a string of profanity in French already as Nicky sat up and wiped his hand over his face to clear the dust away. Nicky thought it was rather uninspired profanity but that was simply because he was used to Joe and how he would switch between centuries of languages and sayings that had long since stopped being used.

No one voiced irritation quite like his love and it was only partially because he was as much of an artist with his words as he was with a pencil or brush.

“Did you lose anything?” Nicky asked mostly to interrupt Booker’s monologue but also so he knew for sure Nicky was awake.

They’d all been surprised by a sudden explosion destroying the mountainside they were walking along. Nicky had been covering the rear with Booker a few paces ahead of him while Andy and Joe had been a few steps ahead of Booker. Andy had been in the lead, of course, but Joe and Nicky had been the ones to scout the area earlier and so Joe had been staying close to make sure she followed the right trail. And when the two of them had checked the trail earlier, this part hadn’t had any explosives planted along it. They would have found them and known to avoid them. It was a lapse in their guard to assume everything was as they’d checked it but at the same time mostly just bad luck.

“No, I didn’t lose anything. They obviously don’t know what they’re doing since most of the blast got absorbed by the rocks. Just got the breath knocked out of me,” Booker answered gruffly, still speaking in French.

“Apparently not too far out of you,” Nicky shot back. He had little patience for Booker making a big deal out of things when they were working. He could do it all he wanted when there wasn’t a risk of someone coming around the corner and trying to kill them.

He saw Booker give him a glare out of the corner of his eye as he checked over his gear, making sure he hadn’t lost anything. “You’re the one who missed a damn mine. I thought you said the path was clear.”

“It wasn’t a mine. It was a tripwire set into the mountainside, not the path.” Even if Nicky hadn’t seen it when the explosive had gone off, he could tell from what he could see now of the damage done. And the wire had been low enough that both Andy and Joe had stepped over it just with their natural gaits but Booker had been the one to step on it. Nicky had been lucky that his eyes had been down and he’d seen the line shift the dirt and he’d pulled Booker back enough. Nicky had hit his head when they’d fallen back and it had taken a few moments for him to shake the dizziness that would have been a concussion without their healing off.

They were almost to where the path turned sharply and Nicky wondered if Andy and Joe had turned the corner to get away from the blast. He didn’t like that he couldn’t see either of them.

“It wasn’t there when we scouted the path out. They put it in afterwards. Maybe they’ve had issues with wildlife setting it off and we happened to catch it on the right day.”

“Yeah, that sounds in line with our luck,” Booker muttered as they both stood and started looking around the rubble to find their way around it without risking sliding off the edge.

Nicky looked over the edge and saw that not far below them was another ridge where most of the rocks that had been blown loose had settled. If they did go over, that would at least keep them from falling far. Probably wouldn’t even break anything, let alone die.

“Andy hasn’t checked in,” Booker suddenly noted and Nicky looked over to his brother before looking back to where Andy and Joe should be. Enough time had passed that even if they had gotten hurt, they should have healed. At least one of them should have come back.

And Andy always made sure she heard from each of them after anything that might have hurt or killed them, which was what Booker was noting now. She could just as easily look around and see that they were up and fine but she always asked, always asked until they answered her. She’d done that ever since Joe and Nicky had met her.

And neither her nor Joe would have moved on without knowing that Booker and Nicky were alright. They didn’t just let that sort of thing stay unknown unless it was absolutely necessary that they push forward.

Nicky felt the first hint of his temper rising as he allowed the thought that he wished they made more of a habit of bringing their phones or some sort of radio equipment with them. But it wasn’t something they normally did as it was mostly unnecessary between them. Hundreds of years working together meant they hardly ever felt the need for something that would just add to the gear they carried. They didn’t need to speak to communicate and they didn’t need to necessarily communicate to know what to do and how to work together. They could adapt to any situation because they’d seen enough that there was always something similar they’d already been through.

Cell phones becoming more popular, common, and convenient hadn’t meant they went along on missions, though. Like guns, any high-tech equipment was acknowledged as something that made their work easier but wasn’t something they relied on.

They definitely would have revived or healed by now, Nicky noted. After so many years, they knew exactly how long it took for most things to heal, even knew that there was some slight variation between each of them even though it was a matter of seconds.

He tried to not let his mind dwell on the thought that this was _it_ , that either Joe or Andy weren’t healing. After all, he and Joe were nearing a millennium alive and there was no reason to become less concerned about when their time would come as they approached that age.

“Someone might have come to check out the blast, make sure no one survived,” Booker said. He did a reasonably good job of sounding casual and thoughtful but Nicky heard the tension in the man’s voice. He knew what was behind it.

Out of all of them, Booker handled Nicky’s protective temper flaring the worst. It was like on some level he just didn’t understand how Nicky could let himself be taken by such strong emotion, like he should be exactly the same no matter what was happening to the ones he loved. And he seemed to only show that uncertainty when it came to Nicky even though Joe could be just as taken with his protective nature and become single-minded in seeking the death of anyone who had hurt Nicky.

And right now it wasn’t even necessary. Nicky was worried that they didn’t know how Andy and Joe were but he wasn’t enraged or vengeful and it should have been easy to realize that much.

“We’ve lost the element of surprise,” Nicky stated smoothly as he returned to the task of trying to find his way around the rubble without outright needing to climb the wall of rock to the other side. “But we’re also some distance from the furthest patrols and they’d have to come down on foot so they wouldn’t have gotten close enough yet. And we would have heard them if they had attacked. I’ll get around this to make sure they didn’t just take a serious hit that they are taking longer to heal from. Keep watch since I’ll be exposed when making my way across this mess.”

Booker nodded easily enough and pulled his rifle from where he’d slung it across his back, moving as far out on the path as he could before he kneeled down and fixed his eyes on the other side where Nicky would be heading to.

It didn’t take long for Nicky to make his way across the collapsed rubble, rocks sliding loose under his weight a few times but not badly enough that he ever felt like he was going to fall. But that just meant that he got more and more concerned for where Joe and Andy were the closer he got back to the stable ground of the narrow path.

He looked back toward Booker when he stepped down beyond the damage of the explosive and saw him lower his rifle enough that he wasn’t pointing it right at Nicky. And even though Nicky could hear clearly that there was no movement nearby from anyone except Booker he still pulled out his own gun and released the safety. He didn’t need to actually look around the edge of the mountain to know that Andy and Joe weren’t there. He let his eyes scan the path ahead and up the mountain toward where he knew the building their target and his security detail were hunkered down, the building hidden from sight still as it would be until they were within about ten meters.

Joe and Andy wouldn’t have just gone on without at the very least checking on Booker and Nicky. They would have made sure they were alright and then would have finished the mission because the two of them could handle it just fine and they would even likely be able to still get the drop on the guards as they wouldn’t have been expecting the attack after hearing the explosion go off. After all, Joe and Andy were the best of them when it came to getting a literal drop on people. They were willing to take risks that Nicky preferred not to take and Booker didn’t like close combat enough to really pull off.

The point was that they wouldn’t do the latter step without the former.

Nicky came back around the corner and walked straight to the edge of the path and looked back down where the rubble had gathered on the ledge beneath them. He looked back over to Booker and nodded down to indicate where they needed to go. Even over the distance between them and the increasing darkness as they got further into the night, he saw Booker’s frustration.

Nicky gave the mountainside a careful look, now working out the best way to get down even though he was already pretty sure they would have to backtrack and then make their way along a different path. How the rubble had piled up and the explosion itself didn’t really make Nicky all that confident in the stability of anything that would be along the most direct route between their path and the ledge.

He briefly entertained the thought of just jumping down to the ledge and risking breaking his leg but he dismissed it with it meaning he could miss or fall off the ledge and then deal with the much longer fall and then needing to take time to work his way back up.

This was going to take a lot of patience and that wasn’t what he was feeling he had in excess right now. Not when Joe and Andy could literally be buried under all of that rubble. Booker carried explosives of his own, small charges just in case, and there was the possibility that they’d need those to get Andy and Joe free.

It took them close to an hour to climb down to the ledge and actually start digging at the rubble, testing how easy it would be to dig through it. It would have been shorter but they had to hold their positions for a while as someone actually did come down to the path to check that there weren’t any surviving attackers. They did look over the side of the path briefly but they had obviously expected there to be no one so they hadn’t looked too carefully, missing Nicky and Booker huddling against the mountainside with barely enough cover from the rocks to actually hide them.

They’d been digging at the rubble, much of it towards the top thankfully small enough that they could work it loose and drop it off between the two of them, for about ten minutes when Booker started losing his own patience. Nicky was surprised it took him that long as his brother was the one most inclined to get caught up in his temper and not just show it before it passed like Joe did. Booker let himself get caught in it.

“And if we’re wasting our time digging here?” he snapped and Nicky knew he wasn’t in the right frame of mind to be soothing, not now when he’d gone even this long not knowing if Joe was alright. Even Andy’s state was losing prevalence in his mind in the wake of not knowing about Joe. “They could have missed the ledge and fell all the way down.”

Nicky rolled the somewhat large rock he’d been working free of the pile and it fell down into the water below. He then gave Booker an even look, a cold one, as he replied, “Then they are either already making their way back up or we have our next place to be digging. But they are much more likely to have fallen onto the ledge so we will check here first. Unless you’re keen to drown a few times looking for someone that may not be there.”

At least Booker wasn’t so frustrated that he didn’t miss that touch on the sensitive subject of the three of them before his time spending so much time looking for Quynh, drowning countless times looking in the wrong place for one trapped person in one of the many places those tiny prisons were dropped. They would, of course, do it as needed but it would deeply unsettle them every single time.

Nicky took in a deep breath, not unlike how he centered himself for a shot and continued to work at shifting rock, trying to find a way to make enough of a gap that he could see beyond the pile to what he assumed was a cave, hopefully large enough for Andy and Joe to be, hoping that he would hear something from inside that would indicate that this wasn’t, in fact, a waste of time as Booker had speculated.

Honestly, the only reason he could even do that much with some success was that he hadn’t watched someone hurt Joe. There was only the likelihood that Joe was hurt and it hadn’t been a single, identifiable person’s fault. That was what brought forth Nicolo’s merciless wrath and none but his Yusuf had earned the quelling of that.

Booker, once while too young to his immortality and new to those he was now like and also generally still uncaring of their ways as he mourned what he had lost so he often said things with the intent to cause them the pain he was suffering, had once challenged Nicolo’s rage, calling it a waste and a childish loss of temper.

Joe had laughed, declaring that Booker would feel differently once he witnessed that rage ending a fight before whatever had caused it had even finished healing. He had then become still, intense, and serious in a way that seemed to strike all alcohol from Booker once he saw it. He added that allowing emotion to thrive wasn’t something to be shunned or mocked. Doing so was more dangerous than anything his Nicolo was capable of simply because someone had hurt the one he loved with all his heart and who loved him in return.

Joe had been unusually cruel in the following moment as he turned a meaningful look toward Andy before walking away, grabbing his scimitar on the way out and he’d spent the next few hours training alone, proving that he’d been enraged by Booker’s words.

Nicky had simply added that this was who he was and he didn’t change for the sake of others, especially if the change being asked of him held no understanding of why he was like that in the first place.

Nicky had been the one to watch as Joe rediscovered the parts of himself he’d pushed aside for war and he’d seen that when he held no love for the man. Nicky had actually seen a different Joe than the one they all knew and he would guard his love from going back to that ever again.

He didn’t care how that protection looked to others.

Both he and Booker were working the same boulder from where it had settled, pushing it aside, and then they had to scramble away as it knocked more loose and the whole pile shifted around them. Some large rocks rolled off and over the ledge and Nicky finally saw what he’d been hoping for: a gap between the rocks and the edge of the mountain big enough that he would be able to maneuver in and out, especially if he took off his vest and all his gear.

They wouldn’t need explosives to find out if they were looking in the right place so they wouldn’t alert anyone they were still there.

He was working off his gear and vest when he heard something that caused him immense relief: Andy’s voice from beyond what was left of the wall of rocks. “Took you long enough!”

Nicky had to laugh at her greeting. He could hear the relief in her own voice but the fact remained that she teased them when she could, when there wasn’t an immediate threat. He finished handing off his gear to Booker, the man handing back his flashlight and Nicky crawled his way into the gap.

The cave was about eight feet high and not very deep, the rubble covering easily half of it even as most of what had fallen had spread out toward the ledge. And sitting against the far wall of the cave was Andy and Joe.

Andy was looking up toward him with Joe held in tight to her, Andy positioned so that she could watch the opening of the cave but easily roll them to the side to guard Joe if necessary. And Joe’s eyes were closed and his breathing deep. Nicky noticed quickly that Joe’s right hand wasn’t complete, his gaze easily picking up on the puddle of blood under where Andy had Joe’s arm draped to the side while it reformed. It was close to being finished and Joe had likely passed out from blood loss.

“Think you’re going to have to get a little bit of a bigger hole,” Andy said when Nicky remained silent in the continuing flood of relief. “We didn’t have a flashlight.”

Nicky knew at once what that had meant not only for Joe but also for why Andy was being so protective. It wasn’t that she wasn’t protective over them but she balanced it out with how she understood the extent that they could take care of themselves. It was only when they showed vulnerability that the balance she kept was thrown and they saw more obvious ways that she looked out for them.

But Joe didn’t do well in complete darkness like a completely enclosed room that didn’t allow any light in. And it wasn’t a problem every time, mostly when it was unexpected or he was already stressed. When it affected him, he had trouble breathing and his body shook violently. And Nicky had seen Joe completely unable to move when taken with this state but had also seen him lash out with a violence he didn’t usually act in.

“And his hand?” Nicky asked even as he started working himself further into the cave. He figured he could work on this side while Booker continued on the outside to get the hole just a little bigger as Andy suggested.

“Got trapped under that. He’s lucky that’s all that got trapped. He pushed me when the blast went off and then threw me out of where the rocks were falling when we landed here.”

“That sounds like Yusuf,” Nicky muttered. He tended to revert to his love’s real name, the one he’d been calling him for hundreds of years, when his protective nature was kicked off.

He stepped off the rock pile and onto stable ground, turning toward the other two but he hesitated in actually approaching, strangely hesitant to greet Joe while Andy was so near, literally supporting Joe.

They did have boundaries that they maintained when around others and this felt like pushing it.

He also felt like he hadn’t completely recovered his own composure and it would only take a single look or words from Joe and he wouldn’t be able to maintain his control.

Andy watched him for a few seconds before she rolled her eyes. “I’ve walking in on you two having sex how many times and you think I’m going to be bothered by you getting all sentimental after seeing he’s okay? Don’t make out on top of me but at least get over here and let him know you’re here. He’s not actually okay.”

Andy had no hesitation in saying what Joe likely wouldn’t.

Nicky gave a small smile as he turned and walked over to the two, kneeling down at Andy’s side where Joe’s arm was extended out and his hand was healing. He set down his flashlight on the ground, facing it toward the wall of rubble so it would light the entire small cave so Joe could awaken to being able to see where he was. That would help him truly be able to collect himself and recover.

He first reached for Andy, leaning in close to press a brief kiss to her cheek. “I’m glad you’re alright,” he said honestly in a low voice. Just because his first concern was Joe didn’t mean he was any less concerned for Andy or Booker. He hated and feared the thought of having to endure the loss of either of them while his feelings on losing Joe were often too intense for him to actually face.

Andy reached out with her right hand and cupped the back of his head, running her fingers through the short hairs at the nape of his neck as she held him briefly. “I know.”

He waited for her to let him go before he moved his focus to Joe.

His right hand laid flat against Joe’s cheek before combing back into his hair, comforted just by feeling the warmth of Joe’s skin and the soft breaths against his skin. He moved Joe’s head slightly, angling him so he faced directly toward Nicky, Joe shifting on his own some as he wouldn’t have been resting deeply and so wouldn’t be as difficult to wake up. And because Nicky experienced the same familiarity, he knew Joe would have recognized his touch and would respond to it, waking up because Nicky was moving him and he didn’t do that unless he wanted Joe awake.

Dark eyes opened lazily at first and then snapped to focus, Nicky recognizing at once the confusion and hints of panic in his love’s gaze and expression. And then Joe turned toward him and there was barely a moment of stillness before he surged forward away from Andy and wrapped his arms around Nicky’s neck securely, holding onto him as he took in shuddering breaths. He started muttering in a low voice, Nicky not bothering to try and follow along with what was likely a haphazard blend of languages.

He did return the embrace, placing one hand on the small of Joe’s back while the other worked under Joe’s arm and rested against his cheek, knowing that Joe took greatest comfort from touch against his skin but gear and clothes worn for a mission limited Nicky’s options. And he altered his breathing, taking deep, slow breaths that he knew Joe would eventually latch onto as he worked through whatever he was saying.

When Joe did go quiet, his breathing still erratic but not in a manner that said he was still panicking, it took another few moments of still silence before he turned his face toward Nicky’s hand and placed a kiss against his palm, Nicky turning enough to kiss Joe’s temple.

And then Joe spoke again in a much clearer voice, composed to an extreme. “I should have waited a little while longer before I did that. My hand isn’t quite finished healing and it really hurts. Not to mention I’m pretty sure I just bloodied up your back. That seems inconsiderate.”

“These get buried anyway, _hayati_. Why would I care?” Nicky replied smoothly enough. If his Joe was going to go the route of pretending he didn’t just wake up and hold Nicky like a lifeline, Nicky would indulge him until they were again safe.

He looked over Joe’s shoulder to Andy and gave her a meaningful look, knowing that she often wouldn’t do the same unless Nicky told her to. She gave a slight shrug with one shoulder and he knew he’d made the right call this time around. She was concerned for Joe, which wasn’t surprising if she had needed to keep him calm from panicking in the darkness after cutting his hand off.

Andy and Joe took care of each other in a way that was unique to the two of them that even Nicky would have difficulty putting into words. Thankfully, Booker had figured it out easily enough for himself and hadn’t ever asked.

“Did my armored warrior secure our way out?” Joe asked, using one of the most teasing ways he referred to Nicky, his variation of “knight in shining armor” that he’d found that didn’t bother Nicky.

“Nearly. We just need to move a little more rocks and you’ll be able to leave without any problems.”

“If you weren’t so wide, you could fit out the hole he already made but we all know you’re just too big,” Andy said as she bent her left leg up close to herself and then pushed her shin against Joe’s back lightly before she moved to stand up from behind him.

Nicky felt the urge to sigh in exasperation and only didn’t because he knew Joe wouldn’t be bothered by what she said.

Unique in how they cared for each other indeed. Only Andy would not make things worse by making a comment that implied something was Joe’s fault when he was in the state he was, embarrassed and likely guilty. But Andy’s words conveyed something that would only pass between the two of them.

Joe loosened his grip on Nicky once Andy had stepped out from behind him and passed them, moving toward the rocks and climbing up before they heard her talking to Booker. Nicky didn’t allow Joe to move far away, curling his hand around the back of Joe’s head and he then pressed their foreheads together and took in a deep breath, surrounding as much of his senses with Joe alive as he could.

“The next time you throw yourself over a cliff, please tell me you are going to do so,” Nicky whispered in the blend of their native languages they often spoke in as it felt more intimate to them.

“I’m not sure that qualifies as a cliff but I will try to let you know next time.” Joe’s voice shifted as he continued with barely a pause. “Were you caught in the blast?”

He was asking if he’d missed a death of Nicky’s. They didn’t keep an actual count but they preferred to know if it had happened. And Andy had already told Nicky.

“No, I was barely even hurt. Neither was Booker.”

Joe let out a laugh that sounded strained. “That doesn’t seem fair when he set it off.” Joe’s moods were shifting even more than usual and Nicky braced himself for what would likely be an exhausting few days at least for all four of them as Joe recovered. “Please tell me you came directly for us. I would really like to show my appreciation for them setting the explosives and burying us in here. And my healing has finally finished and since I have held you it seems only right that the next thing I do is finish the job we set here to do.”

Joe didn’t often fight in true anger, something he’d learned from Quynh and had taken to heart, but he seemed to be wanting to take that route this time around. Nicky allowed the thought that if Joe was feeling aggressive, it would be fastest to just let him go take care of things on his own.

“Yes, we came straight for you. Our target is still there waiting for elimination.”

“Fantastic. Then let’s get back to work.”

Joe angled his head to press a kiss to the side of Nicky’s mouth before he moved to stand, shaking out his right hand and wiping as much blood off his newly formed skin as he could. Nicky stood as well before his eyes caught on Joe’s left hand and he reached out to take it. Joe paused in his own motions at the touch and then relaxed as he figured out what Nicky was going for even before he reached for the ring that was usually on his right hand, slid onto his middle finger only to the second knuckle. It would fit all the way on but Joe had obviously slid it on without paying attention.

Nicky slid it free, checking the silver band with its unique lines that Joe had helped design long ago, before he reached for Joe’s right hand and slid it back onto the correct finger. He then brought Joe’s hand to his lips and kissed the ring and then the back of Joe’s hand.

Joe was watching him with a soft, fond look that Nicky thought was among his most attractive expressions, partially because he was the only one who received that particular look.

“I would have you be the first I feel on new skin every time,” Joe whispered in Nicky’s native tongue.

“And I will make every effort to have that be so,” Nicky replied in Joe’s native language. “For now, do you want to go to work?”

He was giving Joe a chance to change his mind, to allow his emotions to ebb enough that he didn’t feel like fighting. But Joe’s expression hardened in the manner it always did when he was fighting. It was an expression Nicky had seen so often over their years together and he was as drawn to it as being a part of who his Yusuf was but also in some ways mourned its necessity.

But they chose to fight and Nicky knew he was mostly just still reeling in his own way, his own control holding on by a thread that would likely snap as soon as he was faced with an enemy that would mean another threat to his Joe.

“Of course.”

“Good, because we’ve got the hole big enough,” Andy called to them. “Shall we show them why they shouldn’t piss us off, Yusuf?”

The fight wasn’t nearly enough to dispel either Nicky or Joe’s stronger emotions.

And it did take many months for Joe to be alright in darkness again, the two always sleeping in rooms with windows until it passed.

**Author's Note:**

> I can sort of tell that I wasn't writing this for a challenge based on the length, which is closer to what I average for my chaptered works. While I didn't consciously write less than usual for the challenge, I think there was definitely some influence of knowing I was writing with the goal of finishing writing by Oct 31. I know there was definitely some burnout on the last few prompts and just writing that much in a new fandom since I didn't really write anything for like a week after I finished the last prompt. But I feel rested now and my creativity is flowing once more.  
> I have one more prompt for a sequel from a commenter on another one of these fics so if you have any prompts you want to send my way, whether for a sequel to a work in the Whumptober fics or for something else, feel free to send it my way through a comment and I'll see what I can come up with.  
> Thank you for reading. Thank you for the prompt aie. Have a great day.


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